Noam’s Monsters

★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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Noam is a five-year-old kid riddled with anxiety——but in a relatable way. Monsters such as Spiteful Blames, Worried Fearona, and Shaming Embarrassitis plague him—affecting his mood, causing him to act out and costing him sleep.

We see him try to deal with these things on his own, failing but persevering. Which isn't to say that it's a dire book, or super serious. Levinger's come up with a clever and cute way to introduce these concepts to young readers. It's a fun read with some subtle lessons.

In the end, Noam's problems aren't resolved, they don't go away. But he takes the most important step—he tells his parents (another responsible adult would work here) what's going on. I really, really appreciated this approach and didn't expect it—I would have guessed someone said an encouraging thing or two to him and he'd defeat the monsters (or learn to play with them or something). But nope. He just tells his parents and we're left to assume they're going to do the right thing and work with him.

Levinger is a Clinical Psychologist, and he brings his expertise to bear here. Abisror's text flowed pretty smoothly—anyone who can translate rhyming text deserves major credit. Brahmachari's art was spot on, his monster designs do a great job of embodying the anxieties.

I'd gladly recommend this for parents—whether or not their child is particularly anxious, they're going to deal with some of these concepts in their life, might as well get them used to them soon.


Note: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for this post and my honest opinion. I thank him for that.